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16 September 2002

Text: Iraq Letter on Inspections Should Not Dissuade Security Council

(White House official statement evening of September 16) (360)
A White House official the evening of September 16 called Iraq's
letter to the U.N. Secretary General offering to allow the
unconditional return of U.N. weapons inspectors "a tactical step by
Iraq in hopes of avoiding strong U.N. Security Council action."
Scott McClellan, the White House deputy press secretary, added that
"it is a tactic that will fail."
In New York, a senior State Department official said on background
that the Iraqi letter "is the bare minimum possible that Iraq thought
to put on the table in the hopes of avoiding strong Security Council
action, and as such, it's a tactical move that will fail in terms of
trying to avoid Security Council action.
"What the Iraqi letter is not: It is not a promise to fulfill all its
obligations under Security Council resolutions. It is not a promise to
allow full and unfettered access for U.N. inspectors. It is not a
promise to disclose, or a disclosure, of all its prohibited programs.
And it's not a promise to disarm, as Iraq is obliged to do," the
official told reporters.
McClellan concluded his statement by saying, "It is time for the
Security Council to act."
The text of the White House statement follows.
(begin text)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
September 16, 2002
STATEMENT BY THE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY
As the President said, the U.N. Security Council needs to decide how
to enforce its own resolutions, which the Iraqi regime has defied for
more than a decade.
This will require a new, effective U.N. Security Council resolution
that will actually deal with the threat Saddam Hussein poses to the
Iraqi people, to the region, and to the world. That is the course the
Security Council is on, and the United States is engaged in
consultations with Council members and other partners in New York at
this time.
This is not a matter of inspections. It is about disarmament of Iraq's
weapons of mass destruction and the Iraqi regime's compliance with all
other Security Council resolutions.
This is a tactical step by Iraq in hopes of avoiding strong UN
Security Council action. As such, it is a tactic that will fail.
It is time for the Security Council to act.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)